Voting Rights Convention

TNPer

Preamble;
In order to protect and defend the tenets of Democracy, and to preserve the rights of all citizens of member states to participate in the Democratic Process, the members of the Democratic Union hereby adopt this convention.

Section 1
A “citizen” shall be defined as person holding citizenship in a member-state by either being natural-born or naturalized as a citizen according to the respective member states' laws.

A “polling place” shall be defined as a permanent or temporary location where citizens may go to vote.

An “election official” shall be defined as a person supervising a polling place, working at a polling place, supervising the counting of votes, or operating machinery or other device used for the counting of votes.

“Election fraud” shall be defined as:

The act of casting false ballots;

Voting more than once;

Intentionally not counting certain votes;

Intimidation of voters;

The intentional falsification of election results, or:

Allowing persons not granted the right to vote under the respective member states' laws or this Convention.

A “constituency” shall be defined as geographic area whose resident citizens elect one or more officials to any kind of legislative body.

An “apportioned constituency” shall be defined as a constituency constructed to encompass a certain population size.

Section 2.
No member state shall deny the right of any citizen to vote on account of race, sex, religion, ethnicity, sexuality, or political ideology.

All citizens shall have the right to stand for elective offices.

Any fee or deposit required for a candidate or political party to printed on ballot paper (or listed on any equivalent machine) shall not be exorbitant, and shall be uniform.

This section shall not be construed to deny the governments of member states to nullify any citizen's right to vote, or stand for an elective office, on conviction of felony, treason, or election fraud.

Section 3.
No member state shall intentionally draw the boundaries of any apportioned constituency in order to favor any particular political group over another.

Section 4.
Voters shall have the right to vote anonymously and in secret. No member state shall compel any citizen to vote for any single candidate.

Citizens shall have the right to feel safe while voting; no election official shall be allowed to intimidate or discourage any citizen from entering a polling place.

This section shall not be construed to deny election officials the power to require citizens to display identification or any other proof of citizenship before voting.

Section 5.
Any member state found guilty of election fraud, or violation of any other provision of this Convention may be expelled from the Democratic Union.